Instant noodle business rebounds after a slump Instant noodles consumption in Vietnam totalled at 5.06 billion packages last year, up 3 per cent against 2016 and ranking fifth in the world, trailing China, Indonesia, Japan, and India, according to the World Instant Noodles Association (WINA). Vietnam’s instant noodle market reached its peak between 2012 and 2014, with 5.2 billion packets sold. However, producers reported a slump in sales in the following three years. Ho Chi Minh City-based Colusa-Miliket Foodstuff JSC, the owner of the Miliket brand, saw sales slip to their lowest point in 2016, at VND459 billion ($20.3 million). Meanwhile, Acecook Vietnam’s sales declined from VND13 trillion ($575 million) in 2013 to VND8 trillion ($354 million) in 2016. Junichi Kajiwara, president of Acecook’s subsidiary in Vietnam, pointed out three reasons for the slump. Producers have yet to diversify their products to meet customer demands. There are misunderstandings about … [Read more...] about Instant noodle business rebounds after a slump
Trade vs aid
Will a focus on consumption serve as the economic springboard for Vietnam?
VietNamNet Bridge - Economists have urged the government to reconsider the role of consumption and select it as the springboard to promote economic growth in the future. Three decades have elapsed since doi moi (renovation) kicked off in 1986. Vietnam has been developing its economy based on three important pillars – import/export, infrastructure development and consumption. Of the three pillars, consumers once played a key role in the national economy’s growth, which made up 84.3 percent of GDP in 1990, according to the World Bank. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, director of the Public Policy Program belonging to Fulbright University, said that Vietnam has long been a consumer-aided economy. Though the role of consumers has gradually weakened over time under the impact of increases in investment and import/export, the proportion that household consumption contributes to Vietnam’s GDP has been high, 65.1 percent in 2015.Of the three pillars, consumers once played a key role in … [Read more...] about Will a focus on consumption serve as the economic springboard for Vietnam?
Vietnam economic growth quickens on investment, manufacturing
Vietnam’s economic growth quickened in the fourth quarter helped by rising industrial output and record-high foreign investment. Gross domestic product rose 7.01 percent in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, quickening from a revised 6.87 percent gain in the three months through September, according to data released by the General Statistics Office in Hanoi on Saturday. In 2015, the economy grew 6.68 percent, beating the government’s 6.2 percent target. That compares with a median estimate of 6.6 percent in a Bloomberg survey. Vietnam’s economic growth "has gained momentum gradually and is now being supported both by exports of foreign-invested enterprises and domestic demand," Jonathan Dunn, the International Monetary Fund’s resident representative in Vietnam said in a statement released December 5 in Hanoi. People shop in the frozen foods section at a Fivimart supermarket in Hanoi December 26, 2015. Photo: Reuters. The State Bank of Vietnam weakened … [Read more...] about Vietnam economic growth quickens on investment, manufacturing